The on-line museum of North America's independent department stores. The museum holds all sorts of information about classic department stores which either no longer exist, or are changed beyond recognition. A few of them are still with us, and provide an interesting connection to North America's retail past. The others are presented so that they may be properly remembered as a tangible part of the lives of their customers, shopping destinations where memories were often made.

Pomeroy's, Reading, PA

Michael Lisicky turns his

attention to the history of

Pomeroy's and the results

are very fine indeed

Pomeroy's landmark store on Penn Street was built in stages from 1892 to 1957

Wonderful page on Pomeroy's!! I grew up shopping at the one in Willingboro when I was a kid. You did leave out the Pomeroys at Neshaminy Mall in Pa. although i think it was only a Pomeroys for a little while.

Sorry for posting out of place, but I don't see a general posting area. In Pennsylvania, Boston Store is listed under Erie. There was also a Fowler Dick & Walker Boston Store founded in Wilkes-Barre in the 1870s. The store was bought by Lebanon, PA department store heir Albert Boscov in 1978, and reopened as a Boscov's location, with additional FD&W Boston Stores in Hazleton, PA and Binghamton, NY the following year.

Interesting. In the history of department stores, many different firms took the name "Boston Store." Examples of these stores were in Phoenix, AZ (later Diamond's), Chicago, Milwaukee, Erie, and Los Angeles, where the J.W. Robinson Co. was once known as "The Boston Store."

Hi BAK,I enjoyed your tour! I was born in Harrisburg and knew the Pomeroys well. I've written "The Bakery Girls" a story of another business that ran in those years: Stitt Bakery. I included scenes from Pomeroy's basement and Tea Room.Florence Ditlow

Pomeroy's bought out Easton's longtime Laubach's Department Store in 1964 and later moved to the Palmer Park Mall in nearby Palmer Twp in the late 70s/early 80s. That Pomeroy's later became part of The Bon Ton conglomerate, which originated in York, PA.

The Laubach's/Pomeroy's building in Easton then began a long decline as yet another vacant building in downtown Easton, PA for the next 30 years. It has recently been rehabbed and has apartments for sale.

Back in the early eighties I lived in South Jersey near the shore. On a Saturday afternoon poking around old antique shops and junk stores I found a couple of old Nancy Drew books from the early 1930's. Both of them have a Pomeroy's sticker inside the back cover marked 50 cents, along with some other numbers. I guess there's no way of knowing which Pomeroy's they came from unless someone could decipher the coding system. I've been wondering for years where Pomeroy's was and never knew until I found this page tonight. One of lifes mysteries almost solved. I loved those old department stores. I especially miss those old vacuum tubes. Just magical. My great Aunt Marie used to take me to Kaufman's in Pittsburgh when I was a kid back in the 'fifties. She also worked forty plus years at Royer's Department Store in Greensburg, Pa. Ah, the good old days.

I have a great picture of a an accident scene where a Pomeroy truck that had crashed into an Esso station just outside Harrisburg in the 50's. It's a pretty high-res scan at 16.5 MB that I got from the Cumberland County museum in Carlisle. It's got a lot of cool elements to it: the chief of police of the area is lighting the cigarette of a detective, everyone is in trenchcoats, a little girl and boy are looking at the rubble that was the storefront. Email me if you'd like a copy.

My dad was the furniture buyer for Pomeroy's for 30+ years, before that worked in major appliances and televisions after WWII. Lots of cool stories and memories. When they sold a tv they would take it out to the purchaser's home and broadcast from the truck so that the customer could see what the reception would be like once more television stations started broadcasting. Lots of great stories in the furniture department too. Just ran into a former Pomeroy's employee yesterday who knew my dad and many others. Would love to know if there are any employee lists from Harrisburg Pomeroy's for a trip down memory lane.

Pomeroys in Camp Hill, Pa was a super classy, traditional dept store. I loved shopping there. It closed in the late 1980's and I was so upset. Nothing else compared. They used the old fashioned mannequin displays on elevated platforms and enclosed some in plexiglass displays like they did in the 60's. Xmas decor was out of this world. It had a really warm, homey feel. And their mdse was top notch too. What a loss! The dept stores today have none of the feel. Cold, spare and sterile looking. Hate to say it but wish we could bring back the good old days!

I remember Christmas shopping at the downtown Harrisburg store. We would make a day of it and always would eat lunch at the restaurant upstairs. (I had my first Reuben sandwich there! DELICIOUS!) sitting there listening to Christmas music, looking down at all the beautiful decorations, watching all the shoppers. It's a "Mommy and me" memory I will never forget! Thank you Pomeroys !

I have a hat box top that reads IT CAME FROM Pomeroy's established 1876 I sell vintage hats and this was in some of the hats I purchased love to look up stores to find out how old my vintage hats are great web site thanks

You should look into Mary Sachs in Harrisburg and Lancaster, PA. Unbelievably unique store!! Much better than Pomeroys or Hess. Pomeroys had great Christmas windows, and Hess had the restaurant with models. Mary Sachs in Harrisburg was better than Lancaster. Mary Sachs was by far the greatest shopping experience of my lifetime. The PA State Historic Museum did an entire exhibit about Mary Sachs. There has been a book written about Ms. Sachs and the stores. Thank you for the trip back Memory Lane.

I worked evenings and weekends at the Pomeroys in Neshaminy Mall while I was in college. I handled the switchboard and gift wrap counter. My favorite part was making the announcements. The operations manager let me help manage the inventory my senior year as part of a project for my operations management class at Holy Family College. I met a lot of great people there and have fond memories. I still shop in the building, it is now a Boscovs.

I worked evenings and weekends at the Pomeroys in Neshaminy Mall while I was in college. I handled the switchboard and gift wrap counter. My favorite part was making the announcements. The operations manager let me help manage the inventory my senior year as part of a project for my operations management class at Holy Family College. I met a lot of great people there and have fond memories. I still shop in the building;it is now a Boscovs.

Ahh...the Tearoom on the mezzanine Market St., Harrisburg. CINNAMON STICKS grilled in butter (I later came to learn their proper name STICKIES at ye olde college diner in state college)... no not waxing nostalgic: I need a sugar fix! Of course the clacking of old escalators wouldn't hurt, and who was the one who had to empty all the basements filled with moving stairs?

Downtown Lebanon was a lovely place to shop when I was a young girl. A special highlight was going to Pomeroy's with my mother on a Friday night. In my memory, I can still explore each of the floors. Dreaming in front of the Madame Alexander dolls displayed in the toy department was one of my favorite activities, and thinking of it now makes me as happy as it did then.

In Greensburg, we had a great store (also owned by Allied Stores) called Trooutman's. It had about 6 or 7 branch stores in western Pennsylvania. Eventually Pomeroys took over 2 or 4 of the stores for a few years before they sold out to The Bon Ton. I recall that Pomeroys was classier and more refined.

The Pomeroys on Public Square in Wilkes Barre had awesome mechanical Easter displays on the outside canopy on the front of the store in the 1960's.. A huge egg opened up over main entrance of store to reveal bunnies, other bunnies on swingsets surrounded by flowers.. It was breathtaking!!!! Imagine the displays were lost in the 1972 flood that devastated center city WB??

Late in their history there was in fact a Pomeroy's at Coventry mall. it was quite small but very nice. when the Pomeroy's name ceased to be used, that locat ion was closed. Boscov's built their strange crescent shaped store on that property.

Pomeroy's made it as far west as Greensburg PA, taking over the Westmorland Mall branch of Greensburg-based Troutmann's. Troutmann's had stores in downtown Butler, Clearview Mall/Butler, downtown Connelsville, and perhaps Laurel Mall in Uniontown. I am aware that Pomeroy's took over the Westmorland Mall branch but not the downtown Greensburg store.

Troutman's operated a large flagship store in downtown Greensburg PA. Troutman's operated only two mall stores--Westmoreland Mall nearby along Roue 30 and Washington Crown Centre (formerly Franklin Mall) in Washington PA. They also operated a number of small downtown stores in surrounding communities--Latrobe, Indiana, Butler, Connellsville, New Castle. When Allied Stores decided to close the Troutman's chain in the late 1980s, the two mall stores at Westmoreland (Greensburg) and Franklin (Washington) were converted to Pomeroy's. Later in the mid 1990s thanks to corporate raider Robert Campau, Allied Stores was broken up and The Bon Ton bought out the Pomeroy's change and soon merged them into their nameplate.

An interesting side note: The Tripplett family, which was involved in management of Troutman's, worked out a deal with Allied to purchase and operate the profitable Latrobe, New Castle and Butler stores. The family made a valiant effort to run the three stores under the Troutman's nameplate, and tried to maintain a decent assortment of merchandise. Sadly it was impossible to merchandise three far flung downtown department stores and the stores shut down a few years later.

The Laurel Mall in Connellsville held the only branch store of longtime downtown Uniontown PA anchor store Metzlers. Metzlers had a four floor and basement flagship in Uniontown and was always considered a better store; at one time Metzlers operated a multi-level furniture store diagonally across Main Street from their department store. Metzlers maintained a full service department store downtown until the late 1980s; even in the final years the store was stocked with better quality brands, although it was too small to offer designer lines. The Laurel Mall store dropped its home goods department and relocated offices to that area. Laurel Mall lasted a few years following the closure of the downtown store and the decline of the mall itself.

When I was a child, the early 60's, we shopped the Reading Pomeroy's, sat on Santa's lap and purchased Buster Brown shoes at the store. They moved to Berkshire Mall, Wyomissing, PA, which then become BonTon. Not sure what it is now, guessing Boscov's? Downtown Reading was fun, vibrant at that time.

Downtown Wilkes-Barre was a great place to shop through the 1960's... Not only was it home to Pomeroy's But also Issac Long (a division of John Wanamaker) Lazarus (Mercantile Stores) Bergman's (they moved to the Narrows Shopping center in early 1960 and the largest of all Follow, Dick & Walker The Boston store... 5 floors plus a 4 level parking deck. Boscov's took that over in 1980 and it is still in operation today

I was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre and loved the Pomeroy's display window. We never actually went inside because my mother said "We couldn't afford anything in there." As a child, I used to imagine what it might look like and what treasures they might have. Do you remember "Percy Brown's foods of distinction" grocery store in W-B? Another classy place. All ruined by the flood of 1972.

i have one of the elevator dial indicators from pomeroy's downtown Harrisburg pa, worked for the company the removed the building and wend we were cleaning up wood and metal as the floors were removed cam across it .still think of how the store was back as i was growing up

I worked in the downtown Reading store in the early 1980's when I was in college. I loved that big old building. I made many friends working there, and we had so much fun. There was part of an old hotel in that building. The store was built around it. You could access the hotel from one of the second floor stock rooms. I have pics of that old hotel. Great memories!

I recall many happy memories of the Reading Pomeroy's store. They had a children's art contest every year (early 1960's), and I always participated in it. I still have my ribbon awards from when I was a little girl. It was an exciting time of the year for me when they held the contest... I always looked forward to both entering it and seeing the artwork done by the other children.

I love your site on Pomeroys, having come across it today. I no longer live in PA, and was unaware that they took down the Pomeroys store in Reading. Please would you tell me when that happened?Natalie in Largo, FL

I'm the great grandaughter of erma brogh.. I was given a watch from my mom. . Years ago.. I stumbled upon an engravment on the back. Pomeroy's quarter century club 1979.talked to mom.. and found out great grandma email worked there most of her life.. harrisburg location. . I live in Boston ma.. I cherish this watch.. I miss her every day. .

The sprawling Pomeroy's store in Levittown, Pennsylvania, is where I saw Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy make a political speech in the fall of 1960. I was in attendance with my parents and grandparents and I was just four and one-half years old. I do not recall the substance of John F. Kennedy's speech on that day. I can recall his dark blue suit, tanned face and reddish/auburn hair. When John F. Kennedy left that day he was whisked down Rt. 13 in an open-air Lincoln Continental. These memories of mine are likely flawed being the memories of a four year-old after all.

Pomeroy's of Levittown had a very highly regarded restaurant called The Bucks County Room. As fine dining went in that era The Bucks County Room was it for the immediate area. I had lunch and dinner there many times as I was so privileged in being the first grandchild and nephew and was often in-tow when my mother, grandmother and aunt would meet up for a day's shopping. Morning kindergarten barely put a crimp in this practice but the situation got 'real' when I started attending the first grade; all day. So many good memories from shopping and eating at Pomeroy's of Levittown.

Once Pomeroy's had opened their Neshaminy Mall location, while I did shop there with my wife when I'd gotten older and then married, it seemed as though the mystique of Pomeroy's which was generated (and which had hung around for a good many years) when Levittown, Pennsylvania, was a suburban phenomenon had dissipated when the first Oil Shock/ Embargo of 1973 landed on us like Dorothy's house. So, sadly in my way of viewing the situation, from its inception, the Neshaminy Mall Pomeroy's was under a cloud

I grew up in Harrisburg and remember pomeroys as a child. I HAVE A COOK BOOK ENTITLED, THE POMEROY COOK BOOK, By Grace E. Denison. Inside cover says, Pomeroys Inc. Harrisburg Pa. It's in great shape and has 537 pages, dated 1932. I would like to sell it to someone, haven't posted it yet. Anyway if your a Pomeroys person email me for info or pics. It will end up on Craigslist. gda372@yahoo.com

i was a junior exec at pomeroys in reading, than sales promotion manager at pottsville and wilkes barre. i was the first store manager of pomeroys in the wyoming shopping center. that would be 1967 or 68, not quite sure now. would like to hear from any of my employees who are still alive and remember me. i left there to start my own business in 1972 after agnes drowned both the store and my home.

I lived in Willingboro, N.J. for about 7 years as a child,we moved when I was a senior in high school in 1971. I remember shopping at the Pomeroys in the Wilingboro Plaza, my mother bought a dinnig room set there and still has it today

About Me

Born in 1958 into an American family with deep Polish roots, I was encouraged at an early age to take education wherever I could get it. I was taken across the country as a child, by my first-generation American parents, to see the wonders of our continent, and several World's Fairs which my parents felt would be educational and fun for our family. All of these things have affected my life in so many ways since then. I achieved a couple of degrees in architecture, and attained licensure in 1990. My specialty in the field is creative design, for which I have received a number of awards and accolades. I am happily married for the second time. I experienced the sadness and pain of being a widower after my first wife passed away suddenly in 1996. I would not be telling the truth if I did not mention how central my Roman Catholic faith was in negotiating such a difficult time. It still is, in fact. I work for Fieldstone A&E and, my free time is spent, learning, researching, writing, cooking, traveling, taking photographs, ballroom dancing, and enjoying my relationship with my wife and family with whom I am extraordinarily close.